Fox smears Sherrod as racist, Sherrod cancels Fox interview

Late in her program today, Megyn Kelly announced that her interview with former USDA official Shirley Sherrod -- which Kelly had touted throughout the show -- was off. Kelly said that Sherrod had "changed her mind," even after Fox had "offered her a considerable amount of time" to "clear the air" and "tell her story."

Boy, I wonder why that happened? Maybe it had something to do with Fox's initial coverage of "her story," in which numerous Fox figures responded to Andrew Breitbart's heavily edited clip of Sherrod's speech by claiming it was evidence that Sherrod was a racist.

FoxNews.com's first report on Sherrod reported her statements made in the clip, but gave no indication that it might have been taken out of context. It reported that Fox was "seeking a response from both the NAACP and the USDA," but not that they had attempted to find the full version of the tape or contact Sherrod herself.

In Fox News' first on-air mention of Sherrod, Bill O'Reilly aired a portion of the Breitbart-pushed clip, then called her comments "simply unacceptable" and said Sherrod "must resign immediately."

In the next hour, Sean Hannity led off with the Sherrod story, which he called "Just the latest in a series of racial incidents." Fox contributor Newt Gingrich then said that she had displayed a "viciously racist attitude."

Later that evening, subbing for Greta Van Susteren on On the Record, Dana Perino said Sherrod had been "caught on tape making racially charged comments to an NAACP audience," and said the video "adds fuel to a growing controversy after the NAACP approved a resolution condemning the tea party movement for not denouncing racist members."

The next day on Fox & Friends, Steve Doocy said Sherrod had been caught "making a speech to the NAACP that sure sounded racist." Then Alisyn Camerota accused her of "touting this in this anecdote as though this is, you know, a feather in her cap, somehow, for her to be congratulated." Then Camerota and Doocy agreed that the comments were "Exhibit A" as far as "what racism looks like."

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MattGertz
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Matt Gertz is a senior fellow at Media Matters, which he joined in 2007. His work focuses on the relationship between Fox News and the Trump administration, news coverage of politics and elections, and media ethics. Matt's writing on the Trump-Fox feedback loop has appeared in The Daily Beast, HuffPost, and Politico Magazine, and he has discussed his analysis on MSNBC, NPR, and Comedy Central. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Columbia University. Matt is married to Washington Post opinion writer Alyssa Rosenberg.

CNN has announced it hired former Department of Justice spokesperson Sarah Isgur Flores as a political editor to "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at the network." This hiring decision is surprising given Isgur’s lack of journalism experience, her conflicts of interest stemming from previous roles in the Trump Justice Department and multiple GOP campaigns, and the fact that she personally pledged loyalty to President Donald Trump. But, additionally, Isgur repeatedly made cable news appearances where she pushed false and highly partisan talking points over the years, raising even more questions about the value of involving her in 2020 campaign coverage.